Pages

THE JUDGE WHO HAD A PRICE TAG

Judge Bates after arrest

Texas elects all its
judges. Some say the need to raise campaign funds and placate the wishes of
various political constituencies, corrupts the wearers of the black robes. That
may be true, but that's not the subject of this blog. This blog is about a
district court judge in Harris County, Texas who was willing to sell his
integrity one felony case at a time. It's also about others who worked in the
criminal justice system who took on this powerful judge and sent him to prison.

Sergeant Bob Rees and Officer
Stan Plaster worked in Houston's Vice Squad. One of their informants told them
he'd been in a poker game at which there was some talk about bribing a judge by
pawn shop owner Nukie Fontenot. Seems Nukie had been indicted for receiving
stolen property, theft and aggravated robbery. But he was a lucky guy. His case
ended up in the courtroom of Judge Garth Bates.

The case that Nukie
Fontenot was charged in was being worked by Detectives Sam Nuchia and Earl
Musick, two cops who enjoyed their work. They took a simple approach to this
case. Although there's little debate that the "briber" and the
"bribee" are equally criminals, a judge has a higher standard to live
up to. So the detectives contacted Nukie and told him simply that they knew he
was trying to bribe the judge. The old saying that there is no honor among
thieves proved to be accurate once again. Nukie agreed to record conversations,
become a state's witness and help put the good judge away.

I won't lay out all the
details of the pay-off, but for $60,000 Bates agreed to see that Nukie didn't
have to spend time in prison. After the money was paid, the intermediary
between the Judge and Nukie, a man by the name of Ed Riklin, was arrested
outside his apartment on McCue Street in Houston. As that task was completed,
the detectives got a pleasant surprise. Judge Bates, driving his Cadillac,
pulled into the parking lot. When he realized his friend was being arrested, he
attempted to leave, but was stopped by the officers. Detective Musick arrested
him, found $2,900 of the marked money in his coat pocket and a pistol on the
seat of the Caddy.

Earl Musick

Now Earl Musick took his
job seriously. He carried a card with the Miranda Warning printed on it and
read the warning to the good Judge as required. Bates was insulted and interrupted
Detective Musick to assure him he was a district judge and understood the law.
Maybe so, maybe not, but he continued to talk to the detectives, telling them
what a grave mistake they were making by arresting him. Some of that
conversation was used against him at trial.

When the case went to court, the prosecutor admitted into evidence the little blue card with the
Miranda Warning printed on it that Musick carried. After Bates was convicted, the
Detective was allowed to retrieve the card and still has it as a memento, since
he is one of the few, if not the only, law enforcement officer in Texas who has
ever read a sitting district court judge his legal rights.

Bates got 8 years in
prison for selling justice from the bench, but he only served 3 months. Seems
fellow District Court Judge Thomas Routt managed to change the former judge's
sentence to allow him to be placed on shock probation. The two men not only
served as district court judges together, but both had been municipal (or
traffic) court judges previously for the City of Houston.

Sam Nuchia later became
Houston's police chief, an attorney and a judge himself. Earl Musick obtained
his law degree and now practices law in Houston. I wasn't able to learn much about
Garth Bates after his conviction. He'd be 100 years old today if still alive, but then they
say, only the good die young. I'm
pretty sure of one thing though, he's no longer wearing a long black robe with
a price tag hanging off it.